Fate of an Empire
by Wu Ji Hong
Summary: Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, unbeknownst to each other, launch investigations of Ji..and a little background on Fu Xi.
1. Chapter I Ripple

Chapter One: Ripple

Sun Quan stood on the balcony outside of his chambers in his family's palace at Jian Ye.  There was a full complement of soldiers, servants, and assorted minor official present on the grounds, but most of the higher-ranking generals were off fighting battles large and small at Wu's frontiers.  It made the palace feel rather empty.  Quan walked to the end of the balcony and stared out over his city and past the walls that protected it, looking to the north.  Wei, as always, was the dominant threat to the kingdom with its massive standing army and "Hero of Chaos" for a leader, Cao Cao.

However, it was not the only concern of Wu at the moment.  The red-robed prince turned his head so that he faced west, towards the land of Shu.  _We may have stood together at Chi Bi, but it seems as if our partnership will not last_, he thought.  _Zhou Yu is a cool, calculating man, which complements my brother's fierceness and aggressiveness quite well.  But the issue of Jingzhou and Zhuge Liang has made him lose his temper like I have never seen him lose his temper before.  Ce tried to laugh it off when I brought it up with him, but I know brother better than that.  He's concerned too.  Zhou Yu is his best friend and no one in this kingdom holds a candle to his brilliance except possibly Lu Xun.  If he's frustrated, that's not good.  I only hope he succeeds in the Nan territory for the sake of his peace of mind and of our land as well…_

Sun Quan walked away from the edge of the balcony and stepped back inside, sliding shut the door behind him as he reentered his room.  Gan Ning had once jokingly said that Sun Quan had the only normal room in the Sun family.  Well, perhaps there was some truth in the joke.  Quan smirked.  His father's room was typically the barest out of all of them; he simply never bothered to decorate, to give his space a "personal touch."  Ce, on the other hand, should probably not be allowed to touch his room ever again if it was to ever be clean.  His room was more chaotic and disorganized than the largest battlefield.  Then there was Shang Xiang, his sister.  Her room had more sharp objects in it than the palace armory.  Finally, there was his room, which was ornate but tasteful, at least by the standards of most people Quan had known.  

He was a little different from his siblings in that although he was a competent military commander, he found himself gravitating more and more towards the duties of a statesman rather than a general.  It suited his talents better anyway, and many of the internal policies under which the kingdom was flourishing bore the stamp of his mind upon them.  He was content with what he had accomplished and what he was.  _Although, sometimes, I suppose I do envy the glory Ce has managed to attain in battle…_

Making a sudden decision, he grabbed his sword, the Master Wolf, from its place on the rack affixed to his wall and walked out into the hallway.

Father has always said practicing his sword's forms give him peace of mind, so I shall try that.  Even though Ce usually gets bored when doing forms for his tonfas and proceeds to start beating wooden soldiers instead…

Sun Quan turned a corner and was promptly knocked to the floor as something big and heavy smashed into him.

"What!?"  There was an unconscious palace guard lying on top of him.  Growling, Sun Quan pushed the other man off of himself and stood up, finding himself face-to-face with…

A man's chest.  He tilted his head back and looked up.

Lu Bu, mightiest warrior in all of China, the man who was said to be unstoppable, looked down at him.  Eyes widening in a combination of shock, anger and fear, Quan leaped backwards, starting to draw his sword.  But Lu Bu's foot was faster and his right leg extended into a powerful rising front kick.   It smacked against Quan's chest and made his leap a little higher and farther than it was supposed to be.  There was a loud thud as the prince bounced off the ceiling and landed on the floor once more several feet away with all the grace of a sack of rice falling from a cart.  Coughing and sputtering, he rose back to his feet, albeit a little more slowly this time.  Miraculously, he had maintained his grip on the Master Wolf, and finished drawing it from its sheath as he surveyed the bizarre scene before him.

The prone forms of no less than a dozen Wu guards lay strewn about the corridor, some very obviously dead.  Lu Bu was in full armor, his infamous halberd, Sky Scorcher, firmly held in his monstrous grip.

Sun Quan's mind raced.  _Ridiculous, how the hell did that man get in!?  And why is he here?!!_

Then his eyes focused in on a slight glimmer from a pouch hanging from Lu Bu's side.  The other man's noticed the direction of his gaze and pulled the pouch's drawstring, closing it.  But that glance was all that was needed for it to be recognized.  He had first seen it when his father had returned from the Battle of Hu Lao gate, and then many more times afterwards on its own pedestal in the castle's treasure room.  It was the most precious piece of jade in the world, the Imperial Seal.

"You!  What are you doing with the Imperial S-" began Quan, but his sentence was cut short as Lu Bu lunged forward, swinging his halberd in a massive horizontal arc, its blade ripping wide gashes in the stone walls as he swung it.  The Sun only barely blocked, and even then, he shuddered from the force of the impact and stumbled backwards a few steps, bumping into a wall.

"Out of my way, you're wasting my time!" barked the warrior.  Sun Quan advanced and made a fast vertical slash at his opponent's chest, but it was easily parried and Lu Bu swept the lower, bladeless end of his halberd up into Quan's stomach, causing the Wu prince to double over in pain and drop his weapon.  Another kick put him on his back, and with a sneer on his face, Lu Bu raised his halberd and prepared to put an end to the fight, if it could even be called a fight.

_Father, Brother, Forgive Me._

Sun Quan slowly closed his eyes.

There was the touch of the wind on the face one feels when running quickly and the harsh ring of steel meeting steel.

Sun Quan's eyes snapped open.

Lu Bu had retreated a little farther down the hallway and standing where he had previously stood was the tall, lanky frame of Zhou Tai.

"Are you injured, my lord?" he asked without turning his head, refusing for even a second to turn his head away from his adversary.

Despite the daggers of pain stabbing at him in a thousand places, Sun Quan responded with a "Yes."

"Good.  Please sound the alarm," responded the former pirate.  Quan opened his mouth to argued, but stopped when he tasted blood in the back of his throat.  Half running, half crawling, he left the scene, leaving Lu Bu and Zhou Tai standing there.

"You should follow him, scum," said Lu Bu.  Zhou Tai made no reply, instead pointing at Lu Bu with his sword, the Dusk.  A smirk bent the taciturn general's lip for a split-second, and then he sheathed his curved blade and assumed a crouch.  Lu Bu's eyes narrowed and he snorted, then charged his adversary, aiming the tip of Sky Scorcher straight at Tai's stomach.

Zhou Tai almost seemed as if he was simply going to let himself be impaled, but Dusk flew from its sheath with astonishing speed and deflected the assault on its owner with a slash that was as powerful as it was precise.  Rushing forwards, he followed with an overhead slash at Lu Bu, but the other man pulled his halberd back equally fast and caught the attack in the center of its shaft.  A furious flurry of steel erupted between the two.  Chunks of rock and splinters of wood from doors flew everywhere from the oversized Sky Scorcher opened fresh gashes in the walls, floor, and ceiling.  Missed slashes from Zhou Tai contributed even more debris, and the men continued fighting.

Then the gong began to ring.

Zhou Tai drew his sword arm back to make a stab at Lu Bu's solar plexus, but the bigger fighter raised his foot and then stomped down hard, literally crushing an impact crater into the stone floor.  Tai was sent flying backwards from the concussive blast of air that resulted and hit the ground on his left shoulder.  Clenching his teeth, he quickly used the remainder of his momentum to roll to his feet.  However, his opponent had already burst through a door and jumped out of a window into the courtyard.

He thought he heard Lu Bu shout "We'll finish this later," but he ignored it and ran to the window Lu Bu had escaped through.  In what seemed an impossibility, the famous warrior had already mounted his equally famous steed, Red Hare, and was galloping directly at the castle gate.   The guards struggled to close it, but it was painfully obvious that it was too late.  Trampling a soldier to death who tried to stop him and killing another with his halberd on the way out, Lu Bu left the grounds.

************************************************************************

This is my first submission ever to fanfiction.net, so please review!  Praise and constructive criticism alike are encouraged!

Some notes/questions:

Obviously, I am straying from both the game storyline, the history, and the novel.  Sorry!

Why the hell did I devote the first two thirds of this chapter to Sun Quan?  I don't know, but he's definitely NOT the main character, or even one of the mains…

I tried to make this introductory chapter a balance of characterization and action.

Are you happy with my portrayal of Lu Bu fighting Sun Quan and Zhou Tai?  He would obviously have killed Sun Quan easily, and he had the edge against Zhou Tai even though the ex-pirate was a much more formidable adversary.  Zhou Tai would have been killed as well if the duel had continued, but I like him so he got away with getting knocked down.  Lu Bu did fight Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei simultaneously in the novel, and I'm remaining true to that, however.  He probably won't appear much, but he is hands down the strongest fighter in this story, although I wouldn't exactly say he's unbeatable.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

~ Wujihong


	2. Chapter II Chase the Hare

Chapter Two: Chase the Hare

            Lu Bu and Red Hare dashed out of Jian Ye.  A huge number of Wu cavalry charged after him as archers rained arrows down at him from atop the city walls, but Red Hare proved too fast for either of them.

            Within the city, a man sitting in a teahouse smiled.  A child playing in the street saw the smile and was instantly put into tears.  It was the kind of smile that polluted the very meaning of the word.  The man picked up his cup and sipped away the remainder of its contents, then rose from his place and walked out.

                                                            **************

_Curse that meddling Zhuge Liang!_

That oft-repeated phrase burned through Zhou Yu's mind as his gaze fell squarely on the symbols representing Xiangyang and Jing.  He forced himself to look more towards the north, at Cao Cao's land, but before long, he again found his glare directed at the cities Zhuge Liang had stolen from his grasp while he was fighting Cao Ren in the Nan territory. DAMN HIM! 

The longhaired genius picked up a knife and drove it squarely into the dot marking where Jing was, firmly embedding its point in the wooden table beneath.

There was the rustle of his tent being opened.  "I specifically asked not to be disturbed," he said in a voice dripping with venom as he turned to face the guard who had entered his abode.  Yu's eyes burned with intensity hot enough to set a hundred Wei invasion fleets ablaze.  The guard gulped, started to speak, stopped, and withdrew.  Zhou Yu returned his attention to the map, but he raised an eyebrow when he heard the sound of whispering outside of his tent.  There was rustling again, and he turned, his mouth already opening to let loose a barrage of heated oaths at the guard.

Fortunately for the guard, it was not he who entered this time.  The person who entered was decidedly shorter and prettier.  It was his wife, Xiao Qiao.

The curses died on his tongue, but the fire in his eyes still burned bright as he turned back to his map.  He pulled the knife out of the table and set it aside, then ran his fingers over the tear in the paper it had left to smooth it out.  "I'm busy," was all he said.

"C'mon Zhou Yu!  We're already back in Wu, in a few days we'll be back in Jian Ye!  Let's go have a picnic!  Or something!  Please?" she pleaded.

Her husband clenched his teeth.  "Later."

There were a few moments of silence.  Then, Xiao Qiao jumped over Zhou Yu's head, landing lightly on top of his table.  Before he could raise an objection, she wrapped her slender arms around his neck and kissed him squarely on the lips.  She then drew back a little and looked him in the eyes, a girlish smile spreading across her beautiful features.  There was a hint of worry in her eyes, though.  He sighed, and disentangled himself from her embrace.  He stepped away from the table and held out his hand.

She acts rather immature sometimes.  But I suppose this is what Sun Ce meant when he said that it was what I needed to make me "loosen up," in his words… 

"Yay!" said Xiao Qiao, and she hopped off the table, placing her hand in his.  Together, they left the tent and took a walk around the camp.  Taishi Ci bowed his head slightly in a gesture of respect to the strategist as they walked by, and Yu returned the gesture.  The younger Qiao sister gave the armored general an enthusiastic wave, and the couple continued their stroll.  The battle for the Nan territory had concluded a week ago, and after securing Wu's latest acquisition and leaving a garrison, Zhou Yu's force had begun the march home.  They were now on their way home, and would rendezvous with Sun Ce's army tomorrow morning.

There had been losses taken by the Wu in the siege of Cao Ren's castle, and an arrow had wounded Zhou Yu himself.  Although, that had perhaps been for the best, as it had allowed for the ruse that won the day.  The wound was mostly healed, although there was an annoying itch every now and then.

_But it's not annoying as Zhuge Liang so it can be dealt with,_ he thought.

"Can't Sun Ce hurry up and meet up with us?  He could probably make it here today if he would hurry up a little!  I bet you miss him as much as I miss sis!" said Xiao Qiao, subconsciously sensing that her husband was distracting himself again.

"Yes," he replied.  Although, he inwardly grimaced.  _The first thing Ce will do when he hears from Xiao how I have been acting is force a jug of wine to my lips and get me thoroughly inebriated.  Zhou Yu imagined how the conversation would go._

_Sun Ce: "I hear you were injured, buddy!  Let's get drunk!"_

_Zhou Yu: "Shouldn't I be abstaining from liquor in my weakened state?"_

_Sun Ce: "No way!!  I'm gonna sterilize your wound with alcohol!"_

Zhou Yu chuckled a little and his wife smiled.  They had walked to the edge of the campgrounds, and now stared out over a broad expanse of green fields that stretched as far as the eye could see before meeting the canopy of blue that was the sky.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed that there was movement on the horizon.  A solitary rider was galloping towards the camp from the south.  Borrowing a telescope, the strategist held it to his eye and took a long look.

"It's Zhou Tai," he said.

                                                            **************

            It did not take long for Zhou Tai to lay out for Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci just what had happened in Jian Ye.  Lu Bu's Red Hare was faster than any horse in Wu, but the warrior did not know the land like Zhou Tai did.  Taking several shortcuts, the former pirate had been able to move through the country more quickly than Lu Bu ever could have.  It was entirely possible that he had wrongly guessed Lu Bu's route, but he didn't think so.  Something about the man made Zhou Tai certain that he would take the fastest path possible out of Wu, even if there were an army standing in his way.

"Have you been able to think of any possible ways Lu Bu might have been able to breach the castle's security, in full armor no less?" asked Zhou Yu after Zhou Tai's story concluded.

"No, Lord Strategist," replied the general.

"I see," said Yu, and he walked over to a map, already plotting out in his mind the best places to station interception parties.

"How long do you think it will be before Lu Bu reaches us?" questioned Taishi Ci.

"Two hours at most," responded Zhou Tai.  "His horse was as swift as rumored."

"There is no time for any elaborate preparations then," said Zhou Yu.  In some respects, the task was not all that difficult.  Lu Bu had had no provisions on him when he escaped from the capital, and was not known for possession of the subtler skills required for extended covert operation.

_No, whoever sent a man such as he on a mission like this wanted someone who did not have to sneak around.  He wanted someone who could move quickly and destroy anything that stood in his way, _thought Zhou Yu.  _But even if Lu Bu is the mightiest warrior in this world, he is still only one soldier, and ordering him to charge through an entire army was foolish.  Which is unnerving in and of itself.  How could someone capable of the skill and intelligence necessary to deploy Lu Bu into the very heart of Wu to steal our kingdom's treasure then be so sloppy on the second half of the plan?_

                                                            **************

"My name is Xiahou Dun.  Come if you wish to die," said Wei's most dreaded one-eyed general.

The Wu major facing him hesitated for a few seconds then rushed Dun, thrusting as hard as he could with his spear.  The Xiahou swept the huge blade of his sword, Kirin Fang, up into the spear's shaft, cutting off a third of its length.  His movements smoothly flowing together, he stepped in and spun the momentum from his first strike into a second massive cut that opened the major's body from hip to shoulder.  There was a gargled death cry and he fell to the ground.  Xiahou Dun looked down at the corpse for a moment, and then surveyed the scene.

Xu Zhu was a short distance away, busily hammering foes into the dirt with his distinctive iron mace, and the other Wei soldiers were cleaning up the remnants of the Wu patrol they had encountered.  A number of enemies had escaped and would warn the Wu army of the incursion, but Xiahou Dun wasn't bothered.

A week ago, a letter written by a Wei spy posing as an ordinary citizen in Jian Ye had arrived in Xu Chang and been delivered to Cao Cao.  It had laid out a plan for stealing the Imperial Seal from the Sun family's palace in Wu, and had requested a diversionary raid on the Wu forces in this area so that the spy could flee across the border with it.  The letter had born the spy's seal identifying it as genuine, and although Cao Cao had been suspicious, he decided it was worth the risk and dispatched Dun and Zhu to carry out the requested attack.

When the last member of the Wu patrol was slain, Xiahou Dun shouted an order and the raiding party continued onwards.

                                                            **************

Sun Quan stood in the street outside of what could have been any other teahouse in Jian Ye, sword clasped firmly in his right hand.  Accompanying him were twenty Wu soldiers, all armed and ready for battle.

The teahouse seemed empty.  No noise came from inside, and the door was firmly shut.  Zhou Yu and Lu Xun had uncovered the owner's identity as a spy for Wei several months ago, but had left him alone while they waited for an opportunity to feed him misinformation.  However, the theft of the Imperial Seal had changed the situation.  Quan wanted answers, and he was going to leave no stone unturned looking for them.

The Wu soldiers kicked open the door to the teahouse and rushed in.  A few moments of silence passed, and a sergeant reported that it was safe for Quan to enter.

The Wei spy, the proprietor of the teahouse, was dead and hanging from the ceiling, a noose tied securely around his neck.

                                                            **************

Zhou Yu looked over his forces from atop his gray horse.  Off at various points in the distance, he could see Zhou Tai, Taishi Ci, and Xiao Qiao.  He had struck a careful balance between spreading his men out to maximize the chances of spotting Lu Bu while not spreading them so thin that the powerful warrior would be able to break through with ease.  The men were still more than little apprehensive, however.  Lu Bu's reputation was fearsome, and Zhou Tai had related firsthand information that that reputation was most certainly deserved.

_Still, he is only one soldier against many this time_, thought Zhou Yu again.  _And that bothers me…_

There was the sound of a commotion behind him.

"Lord Strategist!" called an unfamiliar voice.  He turned to face a man wearing the uniform of a Wu sergeant.  Although, the uniform had really been reduced to little more than a bloody green rag.  Zhou Yu called for a doctor and waited for the wounded soldier to catch his breath, which came only in gasps.  Finally, he began speaking again.  "My lord, a Wei raiding force crossed the border and destroyed the patrol unit I was a member of.  They are headed this way!"

The Wei!  Is Lu Bu somehow working for Cao Cao now?  An alarming prospect… 

Zhou Yu remained silent for a few seconds, assessing the situation.  Finally, he spoke.  "Chase two hares and you will catch neither.  Dispatch a messenger to Sun Ce and inform him of the situation.  Request immediate reinforcements.  Until then, we will deploy ourselves to fend off the oncoming raiders."  The Imperial Seal was more than the Sun family's precious treasure; it was a symbol that helped justify its rule in Wu to the people and to the kingdom's enemies.  Yu hardly expected widespread rebellion if news of its theft leaked, but it would have an adverse effect on morale.  Unfortunately, the potential damage the Wei raiders could do if left unchecked was simply more than he could ignore.  If they mauled his army, he would be in no position to stop Lu Bu anyway.

"Come about men and prepare to face the Wei!" he shouted, and his orders were relayed to the scattered Wu forces.  As his army rearranged and pulled itself together into a battle formation, he sighted the first northern soldiers charging towards his position.

Wu archers drew first blood, firing two salvos of arrows that downed more than a few of their oncoming foes.  Then the Wei finished closing and the chaos of close quarters combat began…

Zhou Yu's movements were elegant and fast as he whipped the blade of his weapon, the Ancients Sword, through air and foe alike.  Then he felt a presence approaching, and turning, he saw a number of his soldiers go flying through the air a few yards away, trailing blood from huge gashes.  The lifeless bodies hit the ground and crumpled into a slew of awkward poses that were an obscene mockery of peaceful slumber.

"Xiahou Dun," said Zhou Yu in an even tone of voice to the slayer of his men.

"A man who knows my name and yet does not flee," replied the one-eyed general.  "So you wish to die quickly then, Zhou Yu?"

"Actions speak louder than words, Dun."

Dun lowered the blade of his Kirin Fang to the side and leaned forward.  He then rushed at Yu, who leaped into the air and whirled his body and sword like the winds of a hurricane.  The two clashed hard, filling the space between them with a mist of glowing sparks.  The sound of the impacted reverberated across the battlefield, shaking the very souls of the regular soldiers surrounding them.

Xiahou Dun's eye narrowed as he glared at Zhou Yu, who glared right back at him with equal ferocity as they two men pushed their blades together and struggled for an advantage.  Their faces were mere inches apart, and each duelist's vision was filled with the scowling visage of his opponent.

"I wasn't expecting an opportunity like this to come forth today.  I'm going to deliver your head to Cao Cao in a box!" sneered the Xiahou.

"The only head you should concerned about is your own!" snapped Zhou Yu in response.  Dun bared his teeth and growled, and succeeded in using his brute strength to force the Ancients Sword out of the way.  But his attempt to capitalize on the temporary break in Yu's defense was nullified as the strategist hopped out of range of the follow-up left to right swipe made by Dun.  His dark features twisted into the countenance of a demon, Dun continued to press forwards, becoming a blur of motion as he whipped the Kirin Fang through slash after slash and cut after cut.  But Zhou Yu's defense was impeccable.  Rather than meet the superior raw power of his opponent blow for blow, he instead defended himself with a combination of swift, skillful parries and expert dodges that kept him just out of reach of Dun's blade.

Yu ducked just in time to avoid decapitation and swept his own sword low, nearly cutting Xiahou Dun off at the knees.  The Wei general jumped over the attack, and the flow of the duel shifted as Zhou Yu launched into a spectacular series of sword strikes as smooth and graceful as they were potentially lethal.  Dun blocked the incoming swings with his heavier blade, trying to detect the rhythm in Yu's lightning-fast assault.  Just when he thought he had established a pattern in his adversary's slashes and was in the process of countering, Zhou Yu threw an unexpected uppercut with the Ancients Sword and the combatants again found themselves locked together.  The lock was brief this time, however, and both duelists backed away from each other.

It was then that the two of them noticed, nearly simultaneously, that a fresh force of Wu soldiers had appeared and was rapidly closing in along path that would surely cut off the Wei's escape route.  At the head of the force was a familiar figure wielding dual tonfas, a black silhouette against the reddish light given off by a sun descending towards the horizon.

"This only postpones the inevitable, Zhou Yu," said Xiahou Dun.

Yu focused his mind and raised his left hand.  A blue bolt of energy erupted from his palm and hurtled at Dun's good eye.  He quickly drew the blade of the Kirin Fang in front of his head and the bolt dissipated in a shower of sparks against its curved steel.  Dun lowered his sword and glared for a moment, then fled.

Xu Zhu looked from left to right.  Advancing steadily towards him on either side were a tall man wielding a long, thin sword and a shorter but still imposing man wielding twin iron rods.  Off in the distance, he spied a young girl running in his direction with a pair of fans.  Before he could decide just what he was going to do however, Xiahou Dun decided for him.

"Wei raiding party, retreat!" bellowed the general, and as soon as they could safely disengage themselves, the northern soldiers complied, not wanting to be caught between the armies of Zhou Yu and Sun Ce.  Xu Zhu lumbered over to a horse and started to ride.  Idly, he wondered what he was going to eat tonight.  Battle made him especially hungry, and being hungry made him think about food, which proceeded to always make him even hungrier.  His mouth watered as he thought to himself, _I'm gonna eat a whole chicken!  And then I'll have som—_

For the first time in a very long while, something made him stop thinking about food in less than a heartbeat.  That something was the sight of Lu Bu and Red Hare on the far side of the battlefield, trampling a small unit of Wu soldiers and then running down a few of the Wei as well.  He saw the man who wielded the iron rods notice him as well, and saw him give an order to some troops armed with crossbows to fire.  But Lu Bu simply batted the incoming projectiles aside and kept going.  A few brave spirits attempted pursuit, but Red Hare left them in the dust, and soon, the mighty warrior was fading into the distance.  _I'm confused…_

                               **************Author's Notes**************

And I bet you are too, reader-kun!  But fear not, it will all make sense soon enough!

(Big drops of sweat appear on the backs of heads everywhere.)  Ahem.

I hope I did a better job of proofreading this time, I noticed I made a lot of mistakes last chapter!

So, it's Zhou Yu!  I hope you like Zhou Yu, because he's been one of my longtime favorites.  Thus, he's going to play a very big role in this story.  Also, how do you like the way I portrayed the relationship between Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao in this chapter?

The imaginary conversation between Zhou Yu and Sun Ce at the beginning of this chapter was something of a reference to the anime _Berserk_.  Gatts at one point says that he's going to sterilize his wounds with alcohol when questioned on whether or not he should be drinking in his injured state.  After changing the line/context around a bit, I decided that it was definitely something Sun Ce's _Dynasty Warriors_ persona would say.

I think I liked the duel I wrote between Lu Bu and Zhou Tai better than the one between Xiahou Dun and Zhou Yu.  Just seemed cooler to visualize all these bits of stone and wood flying all over the place as the two try to fight in the confined space of the hallway.  Added to the intensity, even though it was a short battle.


	3. Chapter III: Darker

Chapter Three: Darker

_A worthy man is either strong or intelligent._

_A great man is both strong and intelligent._

_But for a man to be a hero, his intelligence and strength must be equaled by one thing and one thing only._

_His ambition._

That is why I am a hero.  My aim is to rule all under heaven, and I have the means to achieve it. 

A smile flickered across Cao Cao's features for a brief moment, and then there was a pounding at the door to his throne room.  He shouted an order for the doors to be opened, and the guards complied.  A soldier entered and announced himself as the messenger of Xiahou Dun.  He then went on to explain what had happened in the confrontation at the Wu border.  Cao Cao then dismissed the man and leaned against the back of his throne, crossing his hands in front of his face as he contemplated the news from the front.  Xiahou Dun's force had fared as expected, although the premature arrival of Sun Ce had limited the amount of damage done to the Wu army.  However, the objective had been distraction, not destruction, and the objective had been met.

But the operation was of course a failure, since Cao Cao was no closer to being in possession of the Imperial Seal than Dian Wei was to possessing a full head of hair.

The ruler of Wei thought he heard a sneeze from the corners of his throne room, but ignored it and motioned to Sima Yi to come to his side.  The robed strategist stepped out of the shadows, fanning himself with the array of black feathers that also served as his only weapon.

"Yes, my lord?" inquired Sima.  Cao Cao suppressed the urge to frown.  Something about Sima Yi's voice had always bothered him.  _It flows like poisoned honey.  He is a dangerous man, my strategist, and one to watch closely.  However, his intelligence is one of my greatest tools, and he knows that his fortunes are tethered firmly to mine.  _Cao Cao diverted his thoughts from Sima Yi's loyalties to the matter at hand, thinking of several possibilities before speaking.

"Was the letter from my spy in Jian Ye a ruse by the Wu?" asked Cao Cao.

"I do not believe it to be, my lord.  The armies of Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were not in position to entrap our raiders when they came across the border.  If they had sent the letter themselves, they would have known exactly when the raiders were due to cross the border and exactly where they were headed.  If they did mean to trap Xiahou Dun in Wu using a false letter, the trap was executed sloppily, and then Zhou Yu and Sun Ce are too much our inferiors to be a credible threat," replied Sima Yi.

Cao Cao thought briefly of the last time he had seen Zhou Yu.  It was at Chi Bi, and the longhaired strategist had leapt from ship to ship, cutting down his men after successfully engineering the Wei fleet's fiery destruction.  Cao Cao scowled a bit.

"No, if Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were unprepared to deal with our raiders then no trap was laid by Wu," he said.

Sima Yi simply nodded and spoke again.  "The simplest explanation may be that our spy was captured before Xiahou Dun could begin his attack."

Cao Cao considered this.  "That is entirely possible.  But it would not explain the greatest mystery of this skirmish.  Why was Lu Bu there?"

Sima Yi's fan stopped its movement and he covered his face with its black feathers, closing his eyes in contemplation.  His lord waited patiently, and finally, Yi responded.  "I do not know, my lord.  He was not working for Wu, as he barely participated in the battle and slew as many Wu soldiers as he did Wei.  Taishi Ci also attempted to slay him with a barrage of arrows and failed.  I recommend that we send several units into the Ji province to investigate, if you believe we possess the available numbers."

Cao Cao considered this advice.  Ji was farther north than Xu Chang, and simply put, was a mess.  Lu Bu and those still loyal to him were based somewhere within the province, and so were half a dozen other warlords and bandit leaders.  Because of the threats to the south from Shu and Wu, as well as the need to keep Xu Chang defended, Wei had thus far been unable to spare the army necessary to truly restore order there.

The ruler of Wei made his decision.

"Your thoughts are in accordance with mine, Sima Yi.  Dispatch as many patrols into Ji as you see fit and order them to seek out Lu Bu.  Once they locate him, they are to return to Wei with the intelligence they have gathered so that we may plot his extermination if need be."

Lu Bu, you may be the greatest warrior in all of China, but I would have thought our encounter at Xia Pi made it clear that you are not a hero.  Am I going to have to remind you of that fact?

                                                            **************

"At the conclusion of our skirmish with Xiahou Dun's raiding party, Lu Bu was sighted by several soldiers of Wu, including General Taishi Ci.  Unfortunately, because of the Wei, we were out of position and thus unable to stop him," said Zhou Yu to his audience aboard Sun Jian's flagship.  The ruler of Wu and his fleet had been taking on supplies at a depot on the Chang Jiang when Ce and Yu had reached him, and a meeting had been called to discuss the latest trouble that had befallen the Southland.  Besides the Sun patriarch and his eldest son, also present were Taishi Ci, Zhou Tai, the Qiao sisters, Sun Shang Xiang, and Gan Ning.

"Has it been determined how the palace was breached?" asked Sun Jian.  His face was calm, but the seriousness of his tone made it obvious that Lu Bu's undetected entrance into the heart of Wu disturbed him greatly.  Especially since it was something that had nearly claimed the life of one of his sons and had succeeded in taking from his family its greatest treasure.

"No, my lord," replied Zhou Yu, and he picked a letter up off the table.  "This arrived here shortly before this assembly, and apparently, not one of the guards saw anything out of the ordinary until Lu Bu attacked Lord Sun Quan.  It has also been discovered that a known Wei spy died the same day as the incident.  He was found hanging from the ceiling of his teahouse, with no signs of struggle whatsoever."

Gan Ning raised an eyebrow and Taishi Ci asked in a slightly puzzled tone, "Do you believe he took his own life?"

"I would not discount it as a possibility, but then that leaves the question, why?" said Zhou Yu.

"Maybe he was afraid we'd catch him and make him spill his secrets?" suggested Sun Shang Xiang, Wu's beautiful warrior princess.

"But to not try to escape at all is strange," stated Zhou Tai.

"Hey, are we even sure Lu Bu is working for Cao Cao?" asked Gan Ning.

"It cannot be a mere coincidence that Xiahou Dun and Xu Zhu attacked with precisely the timing needed for Lu Bu to make it through our lines," said Sun Jian.

"I agree," said Zhou Yu.  "But the fact that Lu Bu slew as many of their men as he did ours and that he did not join them in their retreat does open up the possibility that he was indeed working for someone other than Cao Cao.  This question will be answered within one week, however.  The true value of the Imperial Seal is to justify a ruler's reign over his kingdom and thus raise morale.  In order to exploit the seal, the fact of its possession must be public knowledge.  If Lu Bu delivers the Imperial Seal to Cao Cao, it will be announced for all to know."

"And if he doesn't?  Then someone else has it?" asked Sun Ce.

Zhou Yu nodded.  "Most likely.  Although, if it is someone else who is not as powerful, he may keep the seal hidden for fear of drawing too much attention to himself."

Ce snorted.  "That'd be smart.  I owe somebody a beating for this.  What about that spy?  You think maybe he was running a double cross?  Used Wei's resources to steal the seal for somebody else, then got backstabbed?"

"Perhaps, although no previous information on him points to anything like that," responded Yu.

The Wu officers discussed the matter for a while longer, drawing up a few plans to try and keep the Imperial Seal's theft quiet, and failing that, to counteract the inevitable drop in morale that would result.  Sun Jian then called an end to the meeting.

Afterwards, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu found themselves standing on the deck, looking out over the water from the bow of the ship.  Night had come, but it was a full moon tonight, so it was fairly bright outside.

Ce turned around and leaned against the side of the ship so that his back faced the water.  He craned his neck back and stared straight up at the sky, watching the starts twinkle.

"Ce, be careful, you're going to fall in," said Zhou Yu.

"Heh, nothing like a midnight swim to take your mind off the stresses of life," replied Sun Ce.

"Oh, really?" Yu smirked and his eye gleamed evilly.

"Hey, don't even think about it!" squawked Ce, scrambling to get into a more stable stance.

Sun Jian quietly observed them from the other end of the ship and smiled a bit.  I have no intention of dying yet, but even if I did, the future is safe with them to guide my kingdom…

                                                            **************

Yang Ling was frustrated.  For the past three days, he had gone out with a patrol numbering close to fifty soldiers of Wei to form one of many search parties currently scouring Ji for the likes of Lu Bu, and so far, he had come up empty-handed.

Today, he had decided to attempt a different course of action.  Rather than leading his men out into the province's dusty plains and canyons, he had chosen to pass through a village to see if they had seen anything out of the ordinary.  But this too, was proving useless.  These villagers were so behind on the times that they had only just heard of the fall of Yuan Shao.  Cursing under his breath, Yang Ling kicked at the side of the building he happened to be standing next to.

"Hey, look at this way, at least this is marginally better than being out in the desert again," said Cui Liang, his second-in-command.  The officer planted the end of his pike in the ground, temporarily using it as a leaning post.

Yang Ling sighed and nodded his head.  I suppose that in the long run, I really don't even have any reason to be complaining.   Service to Wei has been a very rewarding experience, and when Cao Cao unites China, I can relax and take it easy for the remainder of my days.  Well, and get a wife, as well.  I hear the girls in the South are pretty, maybe I'll ask for a transfer to the border down there so that when the-

"Boss, wipe that dreamy smile off your face, someone's coming," said Cui Liang.  He picked up his pike with one hand and pointed with the other to a man walking down the street in their direction.  He was hunched over and covered in a well-worn gray cloak, and he was leading a donkey pulling a cart along with a withered piece of rope.  Yang Ling squinted, attempting to make out the stranger's face, but a hood obscured it.  Liang walked up to the man, who stopped as the Wei officer approached him.

"Old man, have you seen anything unusual in your travels lately?" asked Cui Liang.  The hunchback nodded once and held up a trembling hand, making a gesture that told Liang to wait.  The stranger turned around and walked over to his cart, digging around and under the bags of rice sitting in it.

He straightened up and pulled out a sword larger than Yang Ling had ever seen.  With astonishing speed, he rammed it straight into Cui Liang's midsection, tearing through armor as if it were paper and impaling the soldier on the end of the gargantuan blade.  Liang dropped his pike and his eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror as he stared at the stranger, whose hood had fallen back in the flurry of motion needed to draw his sword.  For a few seconds, they locked eyes, and in the last moments of his life, Liang thought he saw sorrow in the eyes of this man with short black hair, headband, and a weapon so big it was almost no longer a sword.   Then the stranger swung his blade up in an arc over his head, throwing Liang off of its end and into the ground in a crumpled mess.

Yang Ling by now had drawn his own sword, and although it felt inadequate in his hands after seeing what had just transpired, he called out an order.  "Men!  Assemble and arm yourselves, this man will join our comrade in death!"  There was the sound of fifty blue-uniformed warriors grabbing spears, pikes, swords, bows, and crossbows, scrambling to their feet and getting ready for battle.  Never taking his eyes off of Cui Liang's killer, Yang Ling began to slowly advance, his sword held in one hand out in front of him, its sharp end pointing towards the heavens.

He was fast on the draw with that sword despite its size, but swinging something so large and heavy has got to take strength out of him.  He can't be that fast, he simply can't… I'll dodge the first attack, and then go in for the kill… Yang Ling was hardly confident in his assumptions however, and it was taking him a massive amount of effort to just keep walking forwards.  Only sheer force of will kept him from staring at Cui Liang's dead, broken form lying a few meters behind the stranger, who had torn off his cloak and was standing there in a ready stance.  Ling halted his walk forward a few feet outside of combat range and waited for his men to finish forming up around him.

The stranger nodded once.

Why is he nodding?  A gesture of respect, or-?!

Too late, Yang Ling realized that although his unit had indeed finished forming up around him, its spears were not pointed at Liang's killer.  They were pointed at  him.  Ling felt a sharp pain as a spear point entered his thigh, punching through muscle and sinew to scrape the bone beneath.  Crying out, he fell to one knee, and then to the ground on his back after a crossbow bolt slammed into his chest.

"Men, what are you doing!?  Have you gone mad!?!" screamed Yang Ling.  No reply answered Yang Ling, and the men in blue uniforms stabbed at him again and again, showing no more emotion than farmers plowing a field.

Fu Xi slid his gigantic blade into a sheath made of a few strips of leather hanging over his back and waited for the Wei patrol to finish killing its commander.

Standing on a hilltop just outside of the village, a man clad in robes smiled and lowered his hands.


	4. Chapter IV: Inquiries

Chapter 4: Inquiries

Zhuge Liang crossed his arms and looked at the stars.  As the Prime Minister of Shu and according to some, the sole reason the smallest of the three kingdoms had even lasted this long, it was only natural that he had a balcony attached to his room in the palace at Cheng Du. But there was a more practical reason for him to have an even better view than Liu Bei himself.

Some looked to the heavens at night to let a sense of wonder fill them as they took in through their eyes one sign of the vastness of the universe.  Zhuge Liang, however, was one of those men who read the twinkling dots known as stars like the characters on a scroll.

Zhuge Liang did not like what he saw tonight, however.

It was subtle, but the constellations had definitely shifted, and shifted in a wholly unexpected way.  Combined with the reports of Lu Bu making an unexpected appearance in Jian Ye only added to the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong.

According to the latest rumors, Lu Bu was in hiding in the Ji province, the lawless land to the north of Wei.  Someone had to be dispatched there, but Shu was shorthanded on warriors as it was…

Zhuge Liang clasped his hands behind his back and bowed his head in contemplation.  After a few minutes of standing like this, he turned around and walked out of his chambers into the hallway.  After some more walking, he arrived in the castle's main courtyard, where he came upon Yue Ying, his wife, practicing techniques with her halberd Oblivion.

She noticed him instantly, and after completing the form she had been in the middle of, spoke.  "What is it, husband?"

"The stars show signs of trouble in Ji.  An investigation is necessary, but with Wei to the north and Wu growing increasingly impatient with us over the Jing issue, nearly all of our most competent officers are deployed at the borders.  I do not believe it prudent to recall any of them, and thus I am at a loss as to who I should send on this mission," said Zhuge.

There was silence.  Most were already asleep at this time of night, and not even the birds were chirping.  Then, a wind blew and rustled the leaves of a nearby tree, breaking the silence.

"No, you know exactly who you should send, husband," replied Yue Ying.

The wind, and thus the rustling, stopped abruptly, and total silence hung over the courtyard once more.

"I do not wish to send you, my wife," Liang said.

"I am a warrior before I am a woman, and I am your subordinate officer before I am your wife.  Of those present in Cheng Du, I am the most qualified for this mission.  There is no reason not to give me this assignment.  You knew this before coming down here, and have already made your decision.  What you really asked me was whether or not I accept this assignment, and I do," responded Yue Ying.

The two stared at each other.  Slowly, Zhuge turned around and walked towards the doors that would take him back inside.

"A horse and enough provisions to last you the journey through the lands west of Wei will await you in the morning.  Good luck, Yue Ying," was all he said as he left the courtyard.

                                                            **************

"These are troubled times, Ce," said Zhou Yu to his oldest friend.  The two Wu generals sat in Zhou Yu's office in chairs by the table that faced the door.  "The situation in Jing is deteriorating, and Lu Meng is drawing up preliminary plans to attack Guan Yu there if necessary.  Cao Cao suffered a setback at Chi Bi, but it will not end him the way Guan Du ended Yuan Shao.  He will invade again, it is only a question of time."  Zhou Yu's face was serious, his eyes burning with intensity as he ran various scenarios through his head, playing them out to their conclusion and then mentally storing the results if they were deemed useful.

Sun Ce, on the other hand, looked downright bored.  His jaw rested in the palm of his hand, and his elbow rested on the table.  "Zhou Yu, you think I don't know all this?"

Yu raised an eyebrow.  "You seem as relaxed as usual."

Ce sat upright in his chair and stretched his shoulders a bit.  There were a few audible pops as he cracked his neck.  He then put both hands behind his head and slouched.  "Hey, there's nothing wrong with acting laidback.  Besides, it's not like you haven't talked about all this before.  What you're about to say next is that we should wait a little while before charging off rashly and getting ourselves into more trouble.  That's all fine and well, but I'm getting tired of all this sitting around.  I should go back to the border and start raiding the Wei or something."

"You're second in line to the throne of Wu, Ce, you should be more careful with yourself.  We cannot risk you in raids," replied Zhou Yu.

"Aw, c'mon, pop has been through the Yellow Turban Rebellion, a duel with Hua Xiong, Hu Lao Gate, an attack by Liu Biao… The old man is gonna live forever, I tell ya!  He'll be barking orders at my kids to 'eat their pork buns with the pride of a Sun' or some other rubbish when he goes senile or something, but he'll be there!" said Ce.

"Your kids?  Have you and Da Qiao been hiding something?" asked Yu.

"Heh, nah.  But don't try and change the subject, besides pops, there's my brother Quan around here too, and my sister Shang Xiang.  There's plenty of Sun heirs running about, so there's no reason for me not to be employing my formidable fighting prowess in raids across the border that will be the tavern talk of years to come, right?" said Ce.  "And anyway, I'm much MUCH too good-looking to die anytime soon."  A big grin stretched across his face from ear to ear.

Zhou Yu just stared at him.  Drops of sweat rolled down the backs of both of their heads.

There was the sound of bells ringing in the hallway outside, and the door to Zhou Yu's office swung open.

"The great Gan Ning has arrived!" stated the spiky-headed ex-pirate in a loud voice, and he struck a pose in the doorway.

"You know what, screw this mission, let's make him a eunuch.  Maybe then he won't be so damned noisy," said Sun Ce.

"Something to be kept in mind.  Shut the door, Gan Ning."  He complied and Zhou Yu continued, "As you should be aware, a week has passed since the theft of the Imperial Seal and there has been no announcement from Wei or any land for that matter that it has come into their possession.  I want you to infiltrate the Ji province and collect information on Lu Bu.  We need to learn why he took the seal and who, if anyone, he is working with.  Especially relevant, of course, is any information that may lead to our recapture of the seal."

"Should I try and get the seal back myself when I find it?" asked Ning.

"If you feel that you can make an attempt with a reasonable degree of success, yes," replied Zhou Yu.  Gan Ning was cocky and coarse, but he was undeniably a highly skilled warrior, and a tough and resourceful man.  In addition, his previous life as a pirate made him especially suited to be sent into a lawless land such as Ji.

"You're going to be basically on your own up there, so watch yourself.  It would be great if you could get us back the seal, but your primary goal is getting us intel.  Got it?" said Sun Ce.

The ex-pirate nodded.

"We're counting on you, Gan Ning," said Zhou Yu.

                                                            **************

Sima Yi was extremely troubled by the latest news from the Ji province; or, to be more accurate, the lack of news from the Ji province.

He stared down at the pile of military letters littering his desk in the Wei palace at Xu Chang, each saying essentially the same thing, telling him that yet another group of soldiers had gone missing, leaving nothing but dead officers behind.

[Mass desertions?  My agents within the army have reported no discontent or widespread cases of disloyalty, and not even the smallest shred of gossip escapes their ears.  Guerilla assaults from Lu Bu?  He lacks the subtlety for that sort of work, and besides, to eliminate or capture entire patrols repeatedly without a single survivor to report back to us?  Preposterous!]

The strategist's eyes narrowed to slits, and he picked up a dried logan from a plate by his left elbow.  Without taking his eyes off the letters in front of him, he tossed the morsel of food into his mouth and chewed.

[The townsfolk of the region are of no use to me either.  They're nothing but a flock of ignorant peasants who wouldn't know Lu Bu from an ox!  So then, what are my choices?  I can commit more forces to the search in the hope of at least finding out what is going on.  No, actually, I cannot, not with so many men needed in the south to combat Shu and Wu.  I can continue with things as they are and continue to lose troops until some stroke of luck leaves a survivor who can tell me what is happening.  No, that's not an option either.]

Sima Yi picked up another logan.

[I will withdraw the troops from Ji and strengthen the defenses in the area.  This won't require as many resources as a full-scale search of the province, and this way, whatever is happening, if it is an attack, it will be stopped at the southern border of Ji.  The situation can then at least be stabilized for the time being.  Once either Shu or Wu falls, the region can be cleaned out, but as it is, Lu Bu is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.]

                                                            **************

Fu Xi looked out at the countryside from atop his horse.  It wasn't much to look at, not in this part of the country, so he threw a glance back at his troops.  They were a motley mixture of "converted" Wei soldiers and his original troops, who wore the yellow turbans that identified them as members of the rebellion that had started the decline of the Han and followers of Zhang Jiao, the charismatic figure who swore that he would usher in a new era.

Xi paid special attention to the Wei soldiers, studying their eyes.  There was a glazed, lifeless look in them.  Fu Xi shook his head.  On the one hand, it was amazing that Zhang Lu and Zhang Jiao had the power to cast spells of such strength, but on the other, it was disturbing to see the will of fifty men at a time simply overwhelmed by sorcerous might.  It didn't seem possible, really.

Then again, a year ago, it would not have been possible.  All that had changed when he and the Zhangs had formed the alliance with Lu Bu and concocted the plan that eventually delivered the Yellow Turbans the Imperial Seal.  Although Zhang Lu's spells and Lu Bu's unparalleled fighting prowess had had a lot to do with the success of the theft, without Fu Xi's painstaking attention to detail when formulating the plan, the operation would have failed.  But that was in the past.  Now, the Imperial Seal was in their hands.

There was something most people were not aware of.  In fact, the people who knew of it probably died in the chaos that had engulfed Luo Yang when Dong Zhuo had set fire to the city, or even earlier, when he first began his reign of terror.  The Imperial Seal was more than just a symbol.  Locked within the purest piece of jade in all of China was enough spiritual energy to change the course of destiny itself.

Zhang Jiao and Zhang Lu had been unable to unlock it all at once as they had hoped they would be able to when the idea was first thought of, so instead, they had begun to drain the vast reservoir of energy within the seal to slowly but surely amplify their powers.  And it was working, too, of which the spell that had been used on countless Wei patrols was proof.  They had begun to share the energy with Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang as well, and were still thinking of a way for Fu Xi to be tapped into the seal's power as well.

Fu Xi didn't really care if they succeeded.  Magical might was not what he brought the Yellow Turbans.  They had had that before, and the Imperial army had torn them to shreds and set them back years.

Fu Xi gave the Yellow Turbans the key element that they had lacked in the first Yellow Turban Rebellion; the mind of a military strategist.  The illegitimate child of a now deceased general of the Han, he had traveled with his father's army all across China.  He had been treated decently but never really recognized as a member of his father's family because he was well, a bastard.  So, he was fed, he was clothed, but he was never given much attention.  To alleviate his boredom and loneliness one night, he had picked up a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War.  The book had intrigued him so much that he devoured his father's library, sometimes even forgetting to eat or sleep as he strained his young eyes to make out faded characters illuminated only by the light of a dying fire.  He wasn't a bloodthirsty man, but for some reason, the gigantic puzzle that was war fascinated him.

Just as he finished the last book in the collection, however, his father was assassinated, and he and his mother, a servant girl of his father's, were left to fend on their own.  His father's family wanted nothing to do with them, so Fu Xi and his mother went to the village where she had been born.  It was there that he met the girl that would change his life, the girl that when she joined the Yellow Turbans, was given the name Nu Wa…

[Nu Wa… the girl who I would die for and have already killed for… the girl for whom I sold my very soul…]

                                                            **************

**Author's notes:**

Since Fu Xi doesn't have a story in the Three Kingdoms or Dynasty Warriors, I made one up for him, since having him here as a god wouldn't fit into the story I'm writing.  I originally wanted to keep the Yellow Turbans under wraps for a while longer, along with Fu Xi's history, but I was running out of ideas to fill the space between the theft and the big battles and duels up ahead.

I think this is the first chapter in which nobody died!


End file.
